Province announces funding for planning of Highway 3 realignment outside Fort Macleod

Fort Macleod is a step closer to getting Highway 3 realigned on the east side of town to help with traffic flow, ease confusion and increase safety.

The Alberta government has announced funding for the planning and engineering of the realignment of Highway 3 east of Fort Macleod.

The province has allocated $1 million for stage 1A of the Highway 3 realignment project, which will see three kilometres of roadway redesigned outside of Fort Macleod.

“It’ll provide a lot of greater access into the community and options for economic development in the area,” said Mayor Brent Feyter.

The realignment will be designed to lessen confusion of the current roadway, increase safety and one day join the Highway 3 bypass.

“The alignment here would pull both lanes of traffic further to the south and then open up the land that’s on the north side for more commercial development and industrial development in the future,” said Devin Dreeshen, Alberta’s minister of transportation and economic corridors.

The phase is part of a larger project to realign Highway 2 and Highway 3 at Fort Macleod.

Stage 1A would also include the installation of signals at the new stretch’s intersection with a proposed single-lane access road.

The entire project would see the development of a bypass around the south side of town.

Feyter admits future plans to build a bypass are a sensitive topic but says it will be necessary as the town continues to grow.

He says in the past five years, Fort Macleod has grown by 20 per cent.

“That’s why we’re not intent on pushing for the full bypass, but by some point, traffic numbers will dictate that it has to go around town just for the safety,” said Feyter.

The mayor says there is no timeline as to when a bypass will be constructed, and no plans have been created yet.

The realignment will take place at the same time the province continues with the twinning of Highway 3 from the Alberta-Saskatchewan border to the Alberta-B.C. border.

Ground was broken on phase 1 between Taber and Burdett in May 2024.

“Thirty-three kilometres of new base are already in place; obviously, they have to pave that now, so it is on time and on budget for that first step,” said Dreeshen.

“Obviously, the other stages of the Highway 3 twinning are taking some time. There’s still land purchases, environmental permits and public consultation that still need to go.”

The project includes eight phases.

Chelsea Petrovic, MLA for Livingstone-Macleod, says she’s heard loud and clear from her constituents to have Highway 3 realigned in the town.

“Every single resident in Fort Macleod will benefit from this, and it’s really wonderful news for us,” she said.

Construction on the realignment is expected to start early next year.